Watching CNN this morning, I was impressed by the animated graphic “StormWatch,” followed by the important announcement that in Watertown, New York there’ll be lake-effect snow today. “The snow will begin piling up,” the meteorologist said. “They could get up to two inches!”

Two inches? Upstate weenies.

When did we start getting so unnerved by average snowfall?

In Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, where the biggest scandal used to be not plowing the highway within a few minutes of when snow fell on it, held a news conference in advance of the big weekend storm, which we’re shrugging off like good Minnesotans by talking about it non-stop.

The news conference started 15 minutes before the news conference in St. Paul that may reveal the state’s economy is going belly-up. Which story do you think will lead the nightly news?

Blogging buddy Craig Edwards over at Updraft advised, “If you have shopping on your to do list for Saturday, you’ll want to take advantage of the Early Bird Special and find yourself safely back home around lunch time.”

5:27 p.m. Sven does the weather in the backyard without hat. Of course, it was hardly snowing at the time since the storm is producing less than predicted.

Looks like we’re one Gov. Pawlenty sweater away from “SNINGO!”

Sun 5:03 p.m. In a live report from St. Paul, Jeremy Hubbard of ABC News declares “high winds and frigid temperatures persist here.” A check at the downtown St. Paul airport showed winds of 12. Temperature 23. He referred to it as “a monster storm.”

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts where he was VP of programming for Berkshire Broadcasting Co. He was an editor at the RKO Radio Network in New York, and WHDH Radio in Boston. He is the founder of the MPR News’ website. He is a private pilot and flies an airplane he built.

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Do you think we’ll hear shouts of SNiNgo around the region? One can hope. Glad to see you blogging, Bob.

Bob Collins

Oh, the pressure!

Brett

See Bob blog. Blog, Bob, blog!

http://linkert.name gml4

This is the most fun I’ve had in anticipation of the first snow fizzle… Thanks Bob!

jnp

The term “computer model” has been used several times on MPR in the past day. You’re behind the game…

Tony Lopez

I’m pleasantly reminded of Scott Baio’s role as the family attorney on Arrested Development, Bob Loblaw!

Andy

Snow emergencies declared according to the Current.

Great game board–are we going to play everytime there’s a mention of the threat of maybe some snow sometime soonish? I think we should.

Bob Collins

Michael Wells, online guru of the Current, suggested we could — maybe — make some sort of application where everytime you reload the page, it would change the order of the squares. So you could print it out and you and your loved ones could have hours of SNINGO fun!

But, yeah, why not? Although I think we should have some standards for SNINGO activation.

I’ll have to come up with some new squares.

Suggestions?

Bob Collins

Can’t find the “snow emergency” information. This one is under booth review. (By the way, click refresh to see the updated card)

http://linkert.name gml4

At 1:10am the photo on the Star Tribune front webpage was a kid in a sled…

If we can just get a video of a bell ringer…

Sylvia

How about a square for comparison to previous snowstorm totals around the same time of year, perhaps with old video dragged out for comparison? Gee, the snow back then looks a lot like the snow now.

Or a square for escalating storm status, as in jumps from moderate to dangerous to treacherous to life-threatening to universe-altering?

What is the current definition of moderate snowfall now? 2″? 5″? 15″? Can we get some clarification on terminology here? Maybe a square for this floating target?

Sylvia

Sorry, I forgot a few. One more square for TV video of quirky personal transport: biking on snowy road, cross country skiing on street, snowshoes, dogsled, snowmobiles, riding a moose.

Also TV video: stuck bus, cars sliding into each other, cars in ditch.

Animals at the zoo enjoying the snow, polar bears, penguins and tigers running and jumping around.